Insurance. Ug!

[10G]

Got my insurance renewal. Premium hasn't gone up ... much, so I thought I'd spend some time and look around.

I've read the PDS's for Club 4x4 and RACV (complete care & comprehensive). Shocked to see how little I get under the comprehensive and bamboozled by what I get and what I don't with complete care.

It's just a darn minefield of jargon. EG. If you car gets stolen you get a hire car, if you car is damaged and undrivable you don't. You're covered for xy days if it's stolen, xz days if it's just undriveable.

Club 4x4 look like they'll give me more if my car is a write off than the RACV, they are also better in a number of areas that apply to my conditions. They also seem to offer the most for emergency repairs

You've really got to be careful you don't pay for stuff you can't get. EG: Hire car. Where I live I may not be able to get one OR I may have to drive 100+ kms to get it and 100+ kms to drop it off when I'm finished with it. That's not very useful.

My conclusion is, work out what may actually happen to you in your day to day driving, then work out what you'd need so you can continue with life again until you get your car back. EG, I can hit roos every other minute, get run off the road by log trucks, but my vehicle is very unlikely to be stolen.

I've never spent so much time looking at car insurance & I still haven't made up my mind.

[10G]

So I rang up RACV and asked "If my car gets smashed up in QLD and you agree to fix it & it gets fixed in QLD but will take 2 weeks & I have to be back in VIC in 2 days, how do I get the vehicle back to me in VIC?"

No one had an answer. I got put through to the appropriate Dept and asked them, they had no answer. I can't believe that no one would know what should happen in that circumstance, it just cannot be a weird out of the blue question.

The people on the phone gave me the impression that they believe it usually only takes 3-5 days to fix a smashed up car.

[PeeBee]

So I rang up RACV and asked "If my car gets smashed up in QLD and you agree to fix it & it gets fixed in QLD but will take 2 weeks & I have to be back in VIC in 2 days, how do I get the vehicle back to me in VIC?"

No one had an answer. I got put through to the appropriate Dept and asked them, they had no answer. I can't believe that no one would know what should happen in that circumstance, it just cannot be a weird out of the blue question.

The people on the phone gave me the impression that they believe it usually only takes 3-5 days to fix a smashed up car.

Look at Total care package with RACV roadside assist. i know they will cart a broken down car from one side of the country to the other if required, including caravan. I have a car break down in Parkes NSW on the way to Byron Bay. They gave me a new falcon to drive and transported the car from Parkes to Melb to a repairer of choice. You would think there would be some synergy between these packages?

[PeeBee]

Give Shannons a ring - you might be surprised at what they offer for the money. I have swapped back from Club 4x4 due to premium rise and exclusions.

[10G]

Look at Total care package with RACV roadside assist. i know they will cart a broken down car from one side of the country to the other if required, including caravan. I have a car break down in Parkes NSW on the way to Byron Bay. They gave me a new falcon to drive and transported the car from Parkes to Melb to a repairer of choice. You would think there would be some synergy between these packages?

There ya go ^^^ an answer, why didn't the person I was speaking with know that?

So they shipped your vehicle from Parkes back down to Vic to a repairer you wanted to use? This is a big deal for me as I live 4 hours outside Melbourne, so if I had to fly up to Brissy to pick up my repaired vehicle it'd be an expensive time consuming and major hassle type of job. Maybe I've just answered my question right there?

I rang Club4x4 and didn't get a real comfortable feeling, felt like a 2 bit operation, but I may yet go with them?????

[PeeBee]

There ya go ^^^ an answer, why didn't the person I was speaking with know that?

So they shipped your vehicle from Parkes back down to Vic to a repairer you wanted to use? This is a big deal for me as I live 4 hours outside Melbourne, so if I had to fly up to Brissy to pick up my repaired vehicle it'd be an expensive time consuming and major hassle type of job. Maybe I've just answered my question right there?

I rang Club4x4 and didn't get a real comfortable feeling, felt like a 2 bit operation, but I may yet go with them?????

Even better than that, the front hub assy had collapsed and the vehicle was stranded on a hoist in a mechanics garage. When the flat bed arrived, driven all the way from melb to Parkes, the car could not be loaded until emerg repairs took place, the next day, so the truck drove back to melb and returned the next day to pick up the vehicle. Meanwhile we were in Byron Bay for 2 weeks on holiday and returned to Melb, dropped the car off in Melb, - but had to pay the $600 for dropping the car off in Melb instead of Parkes, but still way cheaper in the long run, and vehicle was just about fixed by the time we got home.

[10G]

Even better than that, the front hub assy had collapsed and the vehicle was stranded on a hoist in a mechanics garage. When the flat bed arrived, driven all the way from melb to Parkes, the car could not be loaded until emerg repairs took place, the next day, so the truck drove back to melb and returned the next day to pick up the vehicle. Meanwhile we were in Byron Bay for 2 weeks on holiday and returned to Melb, dropped the car off in Melb, - but had to pay the $600 for dropping the car off in Melb instead of Parkes, but still way cheaper in the long run, and vehicle was just about fixed by the time we got home.

What a great outcome, well done.

I rang Shannons and put the same situation to them about being broken down interstate and they came back with the same reply as the RACV, so I guess that's just the way it is. Shannons did say however that they'd pay fair & reasonable towing fees & they may ask me to chip in some $$$.

Also found that hitting a Kangaroo then a tree is a 'you're at fault' claim.

[the evil twin]

snip...

Also found that hitting a Kangaroo then a tree is a 'you're at fault' claim.

Thats 'cause Skippies and Woodchips have great Lawyers and no money (cause they spent it on Lawyers) so not worth suing them... Oh, and Shannons hands down best insurer IMHO.

[10G]

Thats 'cause Skippies and Woodchips have great Lawyers and no money (cause they spent it on Lawyers) so not worth suing them... Oh, and Shannons hands down best insurer IMHO.

Yep I reckon you're right there ET. Gee I'm picking up a bit of knowledge in all this. Never bothered looking at insurance policies at all TBH, but now we're getting a little more time and able to go away on REAL trips, I want to know what I'm covered for and what I get.

It's looking like the RACV total care will give me what I want, it's the most expensive, but I think it'll give me what I'm most likely to use.

[rusty_nail]

Yep I reckon you're right there ET. Gee I'm picking up a bit of knowledge in all this. Never bothered looking at insurance policies at all TBH, but now we're getting a little more time and able to go away on REAL trips, I want to know what I'm covered for and what I get.

It's looking like the RACV total care will give me what I want, it's the most expensive, but I think it'll give me what I'm most likely to use.

You can get insurance from anyone and still just get the racv roadside total care for a couple of hundred bucks, seperate to the insurance policy. Did you see @mudrunner post about it last weekend? I have been in the same situation and it is totally worth the money spend if you travel frequently.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk